THE EURO MAGS: TOUGHING IT OUT
Byline: Sarah Raper, Paris; Melissa Drier, Berlin; Amy B. Barone, Milan, and James Fallon, London
PARIS — Strikes in France, a freebie frenzy in Italy, a blitz of German launches and a defiantly upbeat UK characterized a wild 1995 for European publishers.
As for 1996, leading European women’s magazines face a continued tough economic climate and increasing competition from other media like TV, outdoor and even the big national dailies, which have been aggressively courting fashion advertisers in France and Italy.
Despite the problems, there’s a fresh crop of publications emerging across the Continent. Here, a look at top publishing developments in key European markets.
FRANCE
Transport strikes grounded business last year, but ad execs fear the worst is still to come despite a 1996 calendar that is brimming with fragrance and beauty launches.
“The advertisers have already confirmed their media plans for the first half, but the real test will be in June and September when they have seen the impact [of the strikes] on their results,” said Natacha Dzikowski, advertising manager for Elle.
Most publishers who ventured projections said they expected to be flat or down from last year. Several noted that luxury advertisers were increasingly interested in other forms of media, especially radio and outdoor advertising, as well as daily newspapers.
Among prestige magazines in 1995, the weekly Elle finished first with 2,451 pages, up 2 percent through November, the latest figures available, according to French market research group Secodip. Madame Figaro, also a weekly, was second (up 3 percent), while the monthly Marie Claire (up 2 percent) grabbed the third spot. However, Cosmopolitan dropped 3 percent, and Vogue was off 10 percent — and that figure dipped to a 19 percent decline after adjusting for Vogue’s 11 issues last year compared with 10 issues in 1994. Vogue is under closer scrutiny than ever following CondA Nast’s November shocker that it was closing its other three French publications — Maison & Jardin, Vogue Hommes and Automobiles Classiques. Beauty pages were up slightly at Elle, flat at Madame Figaro and down at Marie Claire. Fashion was up at all three, and Marie Claire reported that lingerie had been strong, especially in the first half. Luxury goods firms said they were looking to cast wider where possible, and the magazines benefiting from that new strategy are wider circulation titles like Femme Actuelle and Avantages, as well as younger publications like 20 Ans, which saw pages jump 39 percent, and Jeune et Jolie, up 8 percent.
Meanwhile, any doubts that sex sells were snuffed out by Vital, a health title that transformed itself three years ago into a steamy women’s magazine focused on the couple. After several seasons spent refining the concept, ad pages more than doubled in 1995.
Several new magazines are scheduled for a spring launch. Editions Cote Sud, which publishes two home magazines and several trade titles, is reworking a layout for an upscale women’s magazine called AtmosphAres, which is scheduled for a June debut. Then there’s Lola, an independent effort aimed at the 25-to-35 crowd that will bow in March.
Trying to take advantage of the gap left by Vogue Hommes, L’Officiel has speeded up plans to launch a men’s monthly, L’Officiel Hommes, due out Feb. 26. Finally, Hachette Filipacchi reportedly has a project for a young women’s magazine, spearheaded by Vanessa van Zuylen, a young Paris socialite who first dipped into publishing in 1991 with the oversized L’Insense.
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GERMANY
In Germany, 1995 was the year of the launch — a half-dozen new women’s fashion magazines (primarily targeted at 20- to 35-year-olds) joined an already crowded field of monthly, twice-a-month and weekly titles. That trend continued this year with the much-trumpeted arrival of Amica in January, bringing the total number of German women’s publications to 50. However, the advertising pie isn’t getting any bigger. Total ad pages in women’s magazines were down 2 percent through November 1995 compared with the same period last year, according to the Association of German Magazine Publishers (VDZ) in Bonn.
Ad revenues for the first three quarters were flat, according to the market research company Nielsen. The magazines that come out twice a month, including Brigitte, which remains the top earning German women’s magazine, with Freundin and Fƒr Sie in the number two and three spots, fared the worst and was expected to finish 1995 down slightly, according to Holger Busch, VDZ managing director. The monthlies — with Vogue leading the pack with a 6.7 percent increase in ad pages for the first 11 months — projected they would be flat for 1995, while the primarily mass-market weekly publications were expected to show slight gains for 1995, Busch said. But at Elle, which had the toughest time of the four leading upscale monthlies, ad pages were off 10 percent through November.
A general ad trend study by Gruner + Jahr covering all consumer publications for the first three quarters showed beauty ad spending off 3.1 percent, while fashion increased 3.5 percent. All eyes are on Amica, a new women’s monthly from Milchstrasse Publishing Group of Hamburg, the aggressive publishers behind MAX, a men’s title that claims a significant female readership, Fit for Fun and TV Spielfilm. The large-format Amica is positioned as an upscale women’s magazine printed on expensive matte paper and featuring photographers including Peter Lindbergh, Annie Leibovitz and Richard Avedon. Due to its mid-month timing, industry insiders expect it to pose a challenge to Marie Claire and Elle.
ITALY
Advertisers and publishers are closely watching the development of two Italian phenomena: rate card discounting and the practice of shrink-wrapping giveaways with publications to boost newsstand sales. The discounting wars among the glossies have intensified every year since 1990, according to media buyers in Milan. Recently, the practice has spilled over into the national dailies, which are aggressively seeking a bigger share of fashion advertising, they say.
Meanwhile, in an effort to boost readership, publishers continue handing out fragrance miniatures, baubles and — the newest craze — feature film videos with their titles.
“Last February we gave away 12 different products from the Krizia Poi makeup line in Glamour. They weren’t samples, but the actual size product, and sales were tremendous,” recalled Massimo Perrino, director of marketing at CondA Nast in Italy. Elle handed out a classical compact disc in December, while the women’s service weekly Donna Moderna, published by Arnaldo Mondadori Editore, ran a joint promotion in November with clothing and swimwear maker Parah. Some 5,000 issues contained lucky numbers entitling the purchaser to a free push-up bra.
But even though the gimmicks boost sales, there’s a consensus that the freebie frenzy has gone too far. Perrino and others said they eventually expected a “gentleman’s agreement” among major groups to halt the practice. “But it won’t happen in 1996; big publishers are afraid to lose the important advertising revenues,” said Perrino.
Total ad pages in women’s fashion publications were up 9 percent to 22,299 through October 1995 over the same period the year before, according to Nielsen, and all of the biggest fashion titles followed that trend. Industrywide, beauty advertising was up 7 percent in 1995, according to a study commissioned by Mondadori. At Marie Claire, beauty pages were up 5 percent thanks to strong growth in treatment. However, fragrance was down and color cosmetics were flat, said Massimo Rametta, marketing director for Mondadori’s women’s publications, which include Marie Claire, Donna Moderna and Grazia. At Elle, toiletries ad pages were up 19 percent in 1995, while fragrances and cosmetics rose 2 percent. Fashion was up 25 percent in ad pages and drove Elle’s 9 percent overall increase, while at Marie Claire, fashion rose 15 percent. One new publication attracting fashion and beauty advertisers is Carnet, a monthly on culture and entertainment published by De Agostini Rizzoli Periodicals. It hit newsstands Nov. 15.
UNITED KINGDOM
Publishers are optimistic about 1996, despite a difficult economic climate marked by low consumer confidence. The total number of ad pages among the top seven titles in the year from February 1995 to January 1996 rose 6.5 percent to 7,956, according to figures supplied by the publishers. The top upmarket titles are Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle, Harpers & Queen, Cosmopolitan, Tatler and Vanity Fair.
Simon Kittin, publishing director of Cosmopolitan, said he expects the magazine’s ad pages to be up between 10 and 12 percent in 1996. At British Vogue, publishing director Stephen Quinn said that the number of cosmetics pages should rise by about 10 percent and fashion by about 3 percent in the first half of 1996. The overall number of fashion pages among the top six titles, excluding Vanity Fair, rose 2.9 percent in 1995 to 2,335, while the number of cosmetics pages increased 7 percent to 2,802 on the back of one of the heaviest fragrance launch schedules in years.
Cosmopolitan remains the market leader in cosmetics and toiletries, followed by Marie Claire, Elle and Vogue. At the mass market end, Good Housekeeping dominates the cosmetics sector, gathering ads from both the prestige category and mass toiletries brands. Vogue remains by far the leader of the fashion pack, with a 14.4 percent increase in fashion pages from January to December 1995 to 619.
Cosmetics pages rose 7.3 percent to 426, while the total number of ad pages in the February 1995 to January 1996 period rose 8.3 percent to 1,447.
Vogue’s advertising growth in 1995 showed the strength of its franchise, Quinn said. The magazine also benefited from a realization by some advertisers that the circulation and content of Marie Claire was moving “toward a more tabloid feature format,” Quinn contended. Heather Love, publishing director at Marie Claire, dismissed any suggestions the magazine’s editorial content was alienating some advertisers. Marie Claire’s circulation rose 14.3 percent in the first half of 1995 — the most recent figures available from the Audit Bureau of Circulation — to 455,109. Total number of ad pages dipped 0.2 percent to 1,482 in the February 1995 to January 1996 period from 1,485 a year earlier.
The decline came entirely in the fashion category, where the number of ad pages fell 3.2 percent to 574 from 593. Cosmetics pages rose 5.7 percent to 609 from 576.
“Volumes aren’t the measure of success; it’s how much per page,” Love said. “Our revenues per page are up significantly year-on-year.”
Elle has managed to claw back some of the ground it lost to the juggernaut of Marie Claire in recent years; ad pages from February 1995 to January 1996 were up 4 percent to 1,216.
“Elle has made a comeback in terms of its fashion authority,” said Andrew Wiles, who oversees press and advertising at Harrods. “Its finger is right on the button.” However, advertisers are waiting to see what affect the departure of its editor Nicola Jeal will have. Jeal stepped down after five years for personal reasons, and a replacement has not yet been named.
Also recouping some ground after a rocky start to 1995 was Harpers & Queen under new editor Fiona Macpherson. Circulation was up 9.3 percent in the January to June period to 86,447 from 79,122, but total number of ad pages was down 1.5 percent to 992 from 1,008 in the February 1995 to January 1996 period. There was an 80-page drop in fashion pages from January to December to 296 from 376. Cosmetics pages were up in the period by 25 to 296 from 196.